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Building Your Author Brand

Posted by
Jo Linsdell
at
7:00 AM

I’m relatively new in the writing world. I’ve only been
published just over a year. But one thing I spent a lot of time on, and
continue to spend time on, is building my brand. What is a brand? Well, it’s
you, basically. Who you are as a person and a professional. What’s your voice?
What are you all about?

Though the answer somewhat relates to the genre you’re
writing, it’s more than just that. For instance, I write paranormal romance.
But I’m also a mother of two children (one with special needs), I’m sarcastic
and irreverent, I make jokes about zombies, and I love to post pictures of hot
guys. Fans know this about me. They see it all the time in my social media
posts and it comes out in my writing as well. Readers start to think of me as a
real person, with a personality, who’s relatable and interesting. And maybe
even has some common interests.

Once you’ve established who you are and what you want to
represent, it’s time to build around that. This requires consistency. Find
images that represent your brand – an icon, a stock photo of a model that gives
a good feel of your books, your name in a special font. Reuse it across the
board on all your material, written and digital. That way people come to
recognize you by more than just your name. Names are forgettable, pictures last
longer in people’s memory. One of my icons is a picture of an open book with a
blue light shining from it. When people see that, hopefully they think of me
and my fantasy stories.

The next step is to pick several words or phrases that
represent your writing. For me, it’s alpha heroes, kick-ass heroines, magic,
steamy sex, blood, darkness… things like that. Yes, they represent paranormal
romance as a whole, but they’re words I use consistently in my materials –
blog, website, bios, interviews, etc. So now you’re not only putting pictures
in reader’s minds but words that represent an idea too. A book with blue light
equals fantasy, a unique font for my name, and several words that have meaning
all come together to form my brand.

A tagline can be helpful too. This can fluctuate a bit
depending on what you’re writing at the time. A tagline is a short phrase that
gives a creative picture of what you’re about. Some great taglines I’ve seen
are : “Romance with a bite,” by author Carrie Ann Ryan. “Magically seductive
romance,” by author Lia Davis. Mine is “love stories with a supernatural
twist.” This is a quick way to give someone a piece of yourself without bogging
them down with a lot of words they may or may not read. This is something you
should use on your blog header and Twitter profile to entice people to want to
learn more.

To sum up: a brand is what you want readers to think of
when they see your name. It should include images, words, and a bit of your
personality.

I don't think many writers know early on/in the beginning about building their "brand." It's something they think of later...but it's nice if they can start building right from the start. I especially like taglines. Sometimes I'll remember those before I necessarily remember an author's name...but if it's all part of an author's "package" then it's good that I'm remembering something familiar and positive about an author. If it's not their name, then the tagline or their image/logo.Happy July 4th...catherinelee100 at gmail dot com